Labor Day 2011

(LONG STORY but stick it out... I swear there is a purpose!) Let's back up just a bit because I haven't blogged about a very important weekend yet! Labor Day weekend the kids and I headed to the cabin to meet Grandma Rosie. I think Ryan went hunting or something... Just a guess!:) We were having a great time and had headed to the City of Rocks to show Jack for the first time. We packed a picnic and had a fabulous time eating and climbing the rocks. We packed up and were going to head out to go swimming at the hot springs when we got a few miles down the road Ella proclaimed "MOM, I've got poop on my fingers!" While driving I turned around looked and screamed... oh my gosh she really does. I immediately pulled over and began to clean up her blowout that was everywhere! Carseat was pooped, she was pooped, EVERYTHING was pooped. If you can imagine I pretty much used every wipe and cleaning utensil I could find. Once she was clothed again we headed out back towards the cabin. We got about 10 miles down the road when she now proclaims "Grandma, I sick." I once again turn around to find her completely covered in Puke! EVERYWHERE, oh my..... it was all over everything including in my purse. Great.... puke in my purse.... And if you recall I had already used every wipe I had! Luckily we had planned on going swimming so I had a couple of towels in the car that I managed to clean up the best I could admidst me gagging every second and cursing Ryan under my breath for not being here to help me! Luckily for my mother and for the emergency kit Grandma Annette had made us I was able to get it under control enough to resume our trip to the cabin. Once there I began scrubbing everything, the car, the carseat, my purse (which I finally just threw away along with the towels and everything else we had used!) After I got it all under control I started not feeling well.... I just knew I had what she had. I spent most of the rest of the weekend on the couch nauseated and sick. Luckily my mom took care of everything and I was able to just lay dying on the couch. I did muster up some energy to attempt to make them a hot dog... which lead to dry heaving and me immediately returning to the couch. At this point I knew something was up.... do you get where this is heading? Still feeling miserable I loaded up the kids for the drive home... all the while praying I would have no poop or puke to deal with on the 3 hour ride by myself! Once I was home and Ryan arrived home I'm pretty sure I gave him my sob story of how terrible the weekend was and how sick I was and then I broke the news to him that I thought we might need to go and buy one of these....

Turns out it wasn't the flu after all! It was POSITIVE! We are excited to be welcoming the last member of our little family in May. (I know that was a long story building up to this but hopefully you stuck through it!) We are happy. Grateful. And excited! Not to mention scared. Nervous and hopefully ready for this adventure!

We knew we wanted to have one more little one and apparently the time was right for it to happen. Jack is over the top thrilled and pulling for a boy - Ella has no idea what's going on but I'm sure she will be a great and helpful mommy when the new little one actually arrives!

13 weeks along and feeling MUCH bigger than either one of my pregnancies so far! This can't be a good sign!

Here's to our soon-to-be family of 5! Cheers!

The BIG day!

Finally the big day had arrived and boy was Jack ever excited! First thing that morning they had a party at Pre-school so he was on a sugar high right as the day started. I finally convinced him to take a nap because I told him he would need his energy to go to LOTS of houses! At 3 I headed over to the local car dealership with kids to do some Trunk or Treating. I had never been before or heard about it but just saw a sign a couple of days ago! IT WAS GREAT! Luckily we got there just as it started because before long there were probably more than 100 people in line. Local business (In n' Out, Olive Garden, Chick-Fil-A) were there giving out free coupons for things at their business along with tons of candy! In a matter of minutes they already had a good stash and had tons of fun getting it! Before long Dad was finally home and we were able to head out! Aunt Jenny and Aunt Julie surprised us with a visit and the kids had fun taking them trick or treating. It was such a BEAUTIFUL night and the weather was great so we let them pretty much trick or treat the whole neighborhood and they could have done more! It was so fun watching them and hearing Jack tell them random things like " I like your pumpkins." He was so polite and it was fun watching him act like such a big boy!

Little Miss Sassy Pants and her bad moods..... (she cracks me up!)

We carved pumpkins a couple nights before in preparation of the big night. They were such great helpers!

Jack adores his Dad and it is so cute to see them work together!

And she kind of likes him too..... when she's in a good mood!

And here they are with their final loot! More candy than these kids could EVER need. Good thing Jack already decided he was rationing it and they can only have 2 pieces a day. He doesn't want to run out!
Holidays are so much fun when you have little ones to spend it with!

Listen Party 2011

We were very busy going from party to party for a whole week before Halloween. Friday afternoon we were at Ryan's company Halloween Party. The kids had fun decorating a trick or treat bag and then getting candy from all the employees. Company parties are always extra fun for these kiddos because that means Grandma and Grandpa are also there!

Ella did not like the spider Grandma had placed in her hair and worked hard to try and convince her to take it out!

Our little Pirate Captain was very eager to pose this year so I have tons of cute pictures of him!

After all of these parties Jack's costume was filthy! At each party he spilled something new on it and I was just crossing my fingers that it lasted til Halloween. I am going to try and hand wash it but I think this costume definitely got its use this year!

Rosie's Annual Halloween Bash

Once again Grandma Rosie started off the Halloween season with a bang. She had her annual Halloween party and as always we had tons of fun. Every year we say we aren't going to put as much work into it but every year we do it all over again! The kids spend the morning carving pumpkins with Ryan and trying hard not to ask every five minutes how much longer until the party! Even though we worked very hard to not make anything scary Ella still did not enjoy the party one bit. After eating about 5 cupcakes and me catching her chewing up the olives on the platter and then spitting them back in (I was mortified) she convinced Boppy to take her back into the house to play. She wanted nothing to do with the party and games we had planned. Good thing Grampy is a good sport and missed the whole party to sit inside and play Winnie the Pooh with her!
Here she is the few seconds she actually attended the party! Jack dominating the donut eating competition. He anxiously awaits this every year!

I'm not sure what is going on here but I love their faces!

The family... I was a police woman and Ryan was my convict! I love Ella's face (scowl) in this picture! Oh she is sassy!

Jack loved everything about the party and the minute it was over he wanted to know how much longer until we would have another one. And the countdown begins....

City of Rocks and Pinenut Pickin

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and head to the cabin one last time. Ryan wanted to pick some more pinenuts but Rosie and I insisted he was too late in the season. BOY were we wrong! He spent the whole weekend there picking them and came home with several garbage bags full! Jack loved "working" with his dad all weekend while Ella didn't enjoy it so much. She mostly just bawled about wanting to go back to "boppy's" house to watch a show. Overall we had tons of fun enjoying our last warm weekend of the year!

Can you spot waldo in the rocks?

They are so lucky to have such wonderful Grandma's that spoil them rotten!

She was mad and wouldn't walk any further so she plopped down in the path and pouted..... a common theme for Miss Ella.

Afterward we headed to the Almo Outpost for delicious dinner and dancing. It was too cute and I am sad I didn't get a picture but the famous "JR" was at the outpost performing that night and Ella kept the dance floor hot. The funny part was that she had ripped out the whole bottom of her pants on the rocks so her diaper was hanging out the back and she didn't mind.... she just kept getting jiggy! I on the other hand was a tad embarrassed because we all looked filthy! I even had to beg the waitress for several pats of butter because Ryan had so much pine sap on his hands he was sticking to everything. The butter worked like a charm to get it off! And to finish the day we headed over to the hot springs for a quick dip (and a bath!)

It was a wonderful weekend and I love spending time away with my family!

A little of everything....

I know I am so behind on this sad little blog and it makes me sad. I do have a good excuse.... not really a good excuse but an excuse....my poor camera that Ryan and I splurged on before we had kids is starting to bite the dust. It makes me sad (literally sad) everytime I turn it on and it gives me error messages so I have started just not turning it on. I have used a couple of cheaper cameras and the pictures just can't compare so it makes me not even want to take them. So therefore, sadly I have hardly any pictures of the last couple of months and what is a good blog post without some pictures to go with it?

We have also been working hard soaking up every last minute of this amazing sunny weather. I have so enjoyed the warm fall we have had and so have the kids. I am so NOT looking forward to winter and the long cold days of being cooped up in the house with the two monsters! I may have to consider moving to California...

So, there you have it... some excuses and a couple of pictures that I managed to coax my camera into taking!

I did happen to catch our little Missy in action. This is the face I get whenever something doesn't go her way. She immediately crosses her arms and scowls at me. I usually can't help but laugh which then makes her laugh and then she forgets what she was mad about to begin with. Works out well for both of us!

Jack has to check Grandma Rosie's garden about every 10 seconds to make sure something hasn't grown that needs to be picked.
Overall we have had a fantastic busy fall and even though it wasn't all documented in pictures and blog posts we still had fun!

Hunting Season

I am proud to report that I successfully survived another round of "hunting season." It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fun but we are all still in one piece and we are happy to have Daddy back home. Not only do I miss him and his help when he is away but the kids miss him TERRIBLY! We were on our way back from Idaho yesterday and had been gone 5 days while Ryan was hunting when Jack informed me that he was going to start looking for a new mom. A nice one. Apparently, we were both at each others wits end by the end of this vacation. He requests a mom that will let him watch as much "shows" as he wants and let him eat all the candy he wants. So if anyone knows of anyone that is available that fits that criteria I'm sure Jack would appreciate it!

The kids always enjoy playing with all of his stuff when Ryan is getting ready for another trip. This day they were looking for deer through their spotting scopes! Only a few more years and then I will be sending them hunting with Ryan and I will be heading off to Hawaii for a nice vacation during hunting season!

Blackberries and MORE Blackberries

The last couple of visits to Grandma Rosie's we have had the "pleasure" of picking the Blackberries with her. I have never seen my children so filthy and covered in purple stained skin. Ella LOVES picking the berries and eats probably more than half of the ones she picks. She is actually really good at it and caught on really quickly to which ones were ready and which ones weren't. Despite the purple hands, purple feet, purple faces, scratches and stained clothes the kids really had fun picking the berries with Grandma. I didn't so much enjoy the picking but I am a fan of the berry cobbler and jam that resulted from helping Grandma pick the berries! Checking out our loot!

If you look close you can see the purple hands, feet and face! And, probably tongue too!

They actually are good little workers and love helping Grandma with anything that she asks them to!

Preschool 2011

Preschool this year started on August 30th and Jack was more than ready to head back to school. He is going to school this year at the Lehi Elementary and he is loving it. He is in a class mixed with special needs students and "regular" students. We love his teacher and he asks me everyday if he is ever going to have to go back to his "old" preschool. Apparently he really likes his teacher this year and all of his friends, but I think he mostly enjoys the "magic milk" they serve every day for snack!
Of course he gave me this picture when I asked for him to say cheese.... You may remember the exact same pose from his first day of preschool last year.....

He looks so much more grown up since last year and has shown how much he has matured since then too. I have yet to have to drag him into school or leave him while he is in tears! Ryan took the morning off so we could drop him off together and so he could meet the teacher. Jack was so brave and was so excited to play with all the new toys and friends. He quickly gave us a squeeze and was off to play!

He loves having to go find his fish everyday to "sign" in and usually has to fight his sister for it because she REALLY wants to be able to go to school too!

It seems kind of weird to be taking him to such a big school with so many kids there but he really loves it so I feel good about leaving him with all the "big" kids! He looks like such a peanut walking into school with all of them!

And just one final picture because I thought it was cute. They stood at the end of our driveway and wished all the kids a good day at school! Ella can't wait to be big enough to go to preschool and I can hardly believe that next school year she will be! Wow - time sure does fly!

Cousins....

They sure love playing with Okie and Emma and they were all loving that I let them lick the cake batter bowl. Good thing I am not a germaphobe.... okay I actually am so this was really hard for me to let them do but they enjoyed it and that's all that matters right???